Let's be honest. To know you did your best is one thing. To have your peers say the same thing before an international audience of professional colleagues is infinitely better.

That's what Jeremy Sturgess of Sturgess Architecture surely learned last week when he ventured to Cannes, France, to receive a design competition award for a project submitted to Architectural Review, a prestigious international architecture and design journal Sturgess refers to as his architectural bible.

Sturgess accepted the award on behalf of the key players behind what's now known as the masterplan for The Bridges, an innovative inner-city community in Bridgeland-Riverside in Calgary. The Bridges is in the first of a three-phase development plan, a portion of which is literally being resurrected from the dust left behind when the General Hospital was imploded in 1998.

Initiated by the City of Calgary and created by Sturgess Architecture with Alberta-based landscape architectural firm Carlyle & Associates and Keith Orlesky of New York, The Bridges was the only winning entry from North America. One of three projects honoured in the "master-planned communities" category of the competition, The Bridges took the award along- side projects in Shanghai, China and London, England.

Images courtesy of the City of Calgary
Phase 1 buildings in The Bridges development, an innovative inner-city community in Bridgeland-Riverside, is the first step of a three-phase development plan.

By the time Phase 3 is completed (starting in 2008), The Bridges will host about 1,575 residential units - and be home to some 2,500 Calgarians.

Sturgess Architecture, a Calgary-based design firm with more than 26 years experience in architecture, interior design and urban planning, adds the latest award to a list of previous honours, including a Governor General's award for earlier work.

"This award, I think, is the greatest thing we've ever won," says Sturgess.

Beyond accolades for the project itself, Sturgess is convinced the award will draw attention to the City of Calgary's efforts to boost the inner city's residential density with innovative, pedestrian-friendly projects that give people unparalleled opportunities to live and work in downtown communities.

An artist’s rendering of The Bridges, the only award-winning entry from North America.

"I really have to give hats off to the city on this. They really wrote the sort of terms for a very good competition," says Sturgess.

Doug Carlyle agrees. The principal of Carlyle & Associates, Carlyle encourages Calgarians to head down to The Bridges to see for themselves how the master plan guides development of an entirely new kind of neighbourhood for this city's inner core.

Accessible off Edmonton Trail and Memorial Drive, the development is located between 7A and 10th Streets N.E., bordered by Memorial Drive to the south and 1st Avenue to the north.

If the award is evidence of international interest, then local sales prove it's the kind of development Calgarians want. "The market seems to indicate that there's a huge demand for this kind of living," says Carlyle. "It's extraordinary how excited people are about it and I think that only confirms the importance of the principles on which the plan is based."

The Bridges' first residents will move into their homes in late April, 2005, says Brenda Kelly of Bucci Development Ltd.

Bucci is developing two of the eight building sites in Phase 1 of The Bridges.

The company broke ground for the Bella Lusso (Italian for "beautiful luxury") in early March. Construction on its Bella Citta ("beautiful city") project began last year, with the first residents set to move in next month.

"Most of the neighbours have been through and we're getting a lot of positive feedback," says Kelly.

All told, 135 of the 152 suites in the company's two complexes were sold by mid-March of this year. "It's been fabulous for us," says Kelly. "To be almost sold out when you just started digging is great."

Carlyle expects The Bridges' success will steer development of similar projects in the future. "I think the city is at a point in its maturity where it's now sort of in the same league as Vancouver and needs to take these sorts of initiatives in order to create a degree of livability that otherwise isn't available, particularly in the central city."

The initial competition for The Bridge's design required entrants to define a sustainable community.

The winning master plan met the challenge via pedestrian-friendly streets with wide sidewalks, tree-lined boulevards and distinct lighting. Other sustainable features include increased residential density, live-work complexes and low-maintenance vegetation. When Phase 1 planting is complete, it will include close to 600 trees.

Sturgess, who enjoyed the challenge, says he appreciated the chance to bring in architect and planner Keith Orlesky, formerly based in Edmonton. "He is a remarkable resource," says Sturgess, who credits Orlesky with the "brilliant idea" of making an eight-acre resident-friendly park the focus of The Bridges. Located on the footprint of the old hospital, the new green space acts as a "living room for this community in Bridgeland," says Sturgess.

With The Bridges, "I think the City of Calgary is building something that is going to be noticed all over the world," adds Sturgess. "Yes, the people of Toronto will still call us a suburban city, but I think there are things starting to happen that are going to show that there are very real and very different models coming into play through the City of Calgary's auspices - and I'm very excited about that."

(Joy Gregory can be reached at joy@businessedge.ca)